Friendly Monster
by LazyHouse
Summary: Most houses that have attics usually store old furniture, old toys, books, and seasonal decorations. But the attic of Xiao-Long household had something else, and Yang was going to find out what.
1. Chapter 1

**RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and to its original creator Monty Oum rip.**

* * *

"Dammit Qrow answer!" a man in his mid-thirties with blonde hair and tanned skin muttered as he walked back and forth in a very busy airport.

He looked towards the digital time displayed on the billboard alongside other regional time zones. It was already 6 pm and his flight should have lifted off by 11 am.

After what was and what felt like an eternity his scroll finally stopped ringing and soon a display of his old friend's face popped up. _"Umm… what is it?"_ a groggy voice came from the other side.

"Qrow! Please tell me you haven't left the patch yet." He could hear more groaning from the other side and the sound of a bottle falling over.

_"Tai, I left last night just like we promised."_ The man named Tai was about to yell to Qrow to get his ass back to Patch but was cut off by the drunken man on the other side._ "And I'm pretty sure she will be just fine. You are only gone for what… like a day? Besides I have work to do, I don't have time to babysit right now."_

Tai was visibly fuming over his old friend's answer. Nobody should get drunk on the job, especially if you're a huntsman. But before he could crush his own scroll he just took moment to calm down.

"My flight was delayed."

_"Really?"_ He heard Qrow say with his usual carefree voice with a hint of annoyance._ "You denied my sweet sleep with your calls, and cause my headache to double because your flight got delayed! Seriously Tai just call Yang and tell her you might come home a day later, she will manage."_

"That's not it! My flight got delayed by a flock of Nevermores!" There was a short pause before Qrow let out a small 'oh' on the other side. "Yeah… and you know Atlas, I will be stuck here at least for a week! So please go and at least check on her."

He heard a very long sigh from the other end before Qrow spoke up,_ "Fine, I will check on her once I can, but no promises! I gotta finish my job first, then I can go back and check up on her. Good enough?"_

"That will have to do," Tai groaned as he slumped down on a bench.

_"Maybe next time, get a real babysitter,_" Qrow suggested which made Tai could only laugh at the image of some inexperienced babysitter try to contain his daughter.

* * *

The sun was shining high in the sky beaming straight towards a small island located just west of a coastline belonging to a continent of Sanus. On the island amidst of some dense woods stood a house with a lone occupant inside.

"Don't worry! I can handle myself, I'm a 'big girl' already am I?" an eight-year-old girl named Yang said to her father over the scroll. She had fair skin, a pair of lilac eyes, and a long mane of blonde hair made into messy pigtails. Currently, she was just laying on the couch in the Xiao-Long household's living room.

_"I know sweetie. Just- just promise me you won't do anything I'll have to worry about-"_ her father cut himself for a second before returning to the call. _"I'll have to stop for now, but just know that Qrow will back soon enough. Anyway, bye-bye love you."_

"Love you too, bye!" she said before the call was ended.

With that, she jumped off the couch and looked around the spacious living room. Despite the fact that her home looked like a simple cottage from the outside. Most of its rooms were spacious, and with just her, her father, and sometimes her uncle living there made it so much larger.

It was then that she realized that she was going to have the whole house for herself for a week. She could already imagine things she would do. She could play a game on the holo-tv with the speakers in full volume, she could just stay awake for the whole week, or maybe eat anything from the kitchen.

Her stomach let out a small grumble so she picked the last one of her ideas for a start. If she played her cards right, she could blame Qrow for eating everything good in the fridge. With the genius idea in her mind, she marched towards the kitchen.

"Show me what you got," she said as she opened the fridge's door.

What she saw inside disappointed her. It wasn't that it was empty it was actually rather full of different ready meals that Taiyang had made for her and Qrow to eat, but of course, neither of them barely touched any of them. Luckily for her, she was able to find a few full soda bottles. She closed the door while chucking down one of the sodas.

_'I'll check the cabinets later,'_ she promised herself as she made her way back to the living room. She checked the time from the TV which displayed 14:30 on the bottom right corner._ 'Welp, time for a new record!'_ She grabbed her console controller from the couch and booted up her console.

This was going to be the best week of her life.

* * *

_"I'm sorry, she won't be able to come for a visit, she has caught a fever."_

"I understand," Yang said with a small sigh. "Anyway thanks for answering and I hope she gets well soon. Bye." She closed her scroll and fell backward on the living room's carpet. It surprised how fast it had gotten boring. Sure she beat her record in staying up and beat every level in her favorite game, but it would have been hundreds of times better if she had any of her friends there. Unfortunately for her so far none of them were available.

With a glance towards the clock, she could see it was starting to turn into evening. Although the first day was just ending it almost felt like a full week had already passed. She just stared at the ceiling in boredom and actually thought about going to bed early.

It was then that she heard all too familiar set steps coming above her. They only lasted for a couple of seconds before they stopped.

Yang raised herself off the floor while keeping her gaze towards the ceiling. She just sat there seemingly deep in her own thoughts. Then the sound continued for a brief second before stopping again.

_'Alright, that's it!'_ Yang thought as she rose to her feet and made her way towards the front door.

There alongside some shoes, was a baseball bat leaning on the wall. Her father showed her how to use it in case some unwanted visitors came to their home. She grabbed it and also took a flashlight from a nearby cabinet.

Then she started climbing the stairs leading to the second floor of the house. Once she was up there in the hallway she looked towards the attic ladder. She contemplated for a while, thinking back to the times when her father had prohibited her from going there.

At this point, she has forgotten how many times she had mentioned about the noises coming from the attic, but just to have her father say that there is nothing up there.

No more! She is going to find out what's up there, despite what her father says. All she would have to do is to reach the string that would open the attic ladder. With a small crouch and mighty leap, she launched herself towards the string and managed to hold on to it. It did the trick and soon the ladder came down, opening the way into the attic.

All she saw was dark in there, but that didn't stop her. She turned on her flashlight and began her climb on the ladder.

Once she had climbed up there, she took a look around the place. As she expected she saw some old furniture, books, and lots of boxes. But what caught her eye was a bed set near the wall and some boxes set right next to it forming makeshift stairs to the beams going across the roof. As she examined the beams she found a light switch on the wall near the ladder.

She was about to turn them on when she heard a growl from behind herself.

Her heart jumped towards her throat and all she could do was to slowly move her head towards the sound. She didn't bring up her light towards whatever was behind her but she didn't even have to, in the middle of the darkness a pair of blood-red eyes hung in the air and shining white talons scraped the floor beneath them. Her panic skyrocketed and so did the growling.

Those eyes and talons could only belong to the creatures of Grimm, and she had her eyes locked with one.

She took a step towards the exit, but as reading her mind the creature copied her movement. At that point, she was ready to just jump out of there, but the beast beat it to her and leaped towards her.

Out of pure adrenaline and reflex, she managed to drop her flashlight and swing her bat with both of her arms. The swing knocked herself of her balance but she managed to send the creature stumbling across the floor.

It might have been her best swing so far but now was not the time for celebration. She had to escape quickly. After grabbing her bat she quickly made it to the ladder. Her heart filled with immense joy as saw the creature's figure just lay on the ground. She was about to jump down the rest of the way but stopped herself when she heard weeping of a girl before it turned into sobbing.

She didn't even realize when she had stopped, all she could focus on was the dark figure which twitched sometimes as it wailed. She tried to look for her flashlight but couldn't find it. Then she remembered the switch on the wall and reached towards it with her bat.

The lamps hanging from the beams lit up basking the small room in light. As soon as the lights turned on the creature brought its gaze towards her.

Yang expected a small Beowulf but instead, she saw a small girl maybe a few years younger than herself. At first, Yang thought that she was wearing some kind of poncho but once she took a closer look, she saw it was just a blanket that had a hole cut through it.

She had long messy hair which was colored pitch black but turned red towards the tips. Atop her head was a pair of black wolf-like ears that were twitching at any noise. And her skin was pale as snow except for her hands which were colored black and emitted smoke.

But the most striking feature of her were her eyes. They were exactly that of a Grimm, red irises with black sclera. Said eyes filled with fear and panic as the girl held her own right hand and tried to crawl backward until her back hit a wall.

Like a cornered animal the girl tried to get away from Yang but couldn't get herself to move away from the corner of the attic. The pale skin on the girl's right cheek was darkening and every now and then she winched when she tried moving her right hand.

It actually made Yang feel bad, but she did try to attack her so this counted as self-defense, right? But despite her thinking, she couldn't just do nothing. So she gathered her courage before greeting the girl. "Umm… hi?" Yang said and gave a small wave to her.

Her gesture only seemed to frighten the girl more as she just whimpered and kept glancing between Yang and her bat she was holding in her hand.

Yang lifted her bat which caused a new wave of whimpering from the girl. She held it close as she thought about her situation. She could just leave and tell her father about the potentially dangerous girl living in the attic. Or she could try and help her and find out why she was in the attic in the first place.

She thought about it for a while before coming to a conclusion. With a sigh, Yang brought up the bat so the girl could see properly, and let go of it. The bat fell downstairs and now she was completely defenseless against the girl. The girl's face morphed from terror to confusion and she blinked several times as if she trying to get any sense about the situation.

"Do you want some ice?" Yang asked while pointing towards the girl's wounds. The girl stopped blinking and instead just gave her a questioning look.

"Ice?" At least the girl said something. It made Yang feel glad that the girl seemed to understand her or she was just copying her. Either way, she could work with that.


	2. Chapter 2

**RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and to its original creator Monty Oum rip.**

* * *

A small ice bag slid across the floor to a pitch-black hand. "What for?" the Grimm-looking girl asked as she picked it up.

"Just set it against the spot that hurts the most," Yang explained while sitting across from her. The girl just sniffed the ice bag before placing it atop of the bruise on her right arm. "Is it helping?"

The girl just gave her a confused look, like she was trying to look for something in her but couldn't find it.

They just sat there only a few feet apart so Yang decided to start her questioning. "Who are you?" She didn't receive any answer but the girl did seem to be in deep thought. "How long have you been in here?"

That seemed to reach her and she answered without any major difficulty. "As long as I remember." Yang wasn't sure if she should be worried about the answer or the happy tone the girl answered in.

"What are you doing here?" Yang decided to move on to the next question.

Again the girl just seemed to be deep in her thoughts but this time she did answer. "This… is my home?" It was more of a question than an answer but Yang didn't mind.

"Are you having a hard time talking?"

The girl's eyes widened and she nodded quickly with a small smile. Yang was about to ask her next question but the girl beat her to it. "I hear… you," she said while pointing towards the floor and then to her ears atop of her head. "And I… copy?"

"Alright," Yang said while trying to think of a way how to ask the next thing on her mind. "Umm… what- do you know what you are?" The girl just looked at her with a confused look. "Like, are you a Faunus or something else?"

"I… heard Faunus, but don't know," the girl said while giving her a curious look. "What's Faunus?"

"You know," Yang began before pointing towards the girl's wolf ears. "People with animalistic traits, like extra ears or tails or other traits."

"I have ears… and tail." the girl said while reaching under her blanket clothing and pulled out what Yang assumed was the fluffiest tail she had ever seen. The girl pointed towards her ears and tail covered in black fur. "So, Faunus?"

"Yeah? Well, I think so," Yang answered the possible Faunus girl.

She thought about asking the Faunus if she knew anything about Grimm but stopped once she saw the girl looking at her with the same look like she was looking for something in her.

"What are you looking for?" Yang decided to ask but the girl just gave a small shrug. Then she thought back on their first encounter. "Why did you try to attack?" she asked after a short hesitation.

The Faunus started blinking repeatedly while still staring at her. Yang wasn't sure if she was going to attack or if she was just processing something in her head.

Yang forced herself to calm down which also seemed to make the girl do the same. "You were… scared," the girl stated after a while. "It was different."

Now it was Yang's turn to look confused. "Different?"

"A man with… less yellow hair comes here sometimes," the girl answered which just made Yang wonder why her father was visiting the attic in secret. "He… felt different. Once he came… I bit his shoulder? And slashed his back."

"Why did you do that!" Yang yelled which made the Faunus let out a small squeak.

"It… felt right?" the girl answered with a quiver in her voice. "Please don't hurt," she pleaded.

Yang realized she had stood up and was giving her a death glare. She lowered herself back to the ground and took a deep breath. The girl across from her seemed to switch between looking at Yang with the eyes of a predator and trying to find a way to escape.

She just sat there for a while thinking about what to do. It wasn't long before she sighed and turned towards the girl. "Don't worry, as long as you don't hurt us we are not going to hurt you."

That seemed to calm down the girl and soon she took a step closer to her. "Pinky promise?" she asked with a hopeful voice.

Yang gave a short laugh before extending her hand with her pinky in a small hook. "Sure," she said while waiting for the girl to do the same. But instead, the girl just looked towards her hand with confusion in her face.

After a while, Yang decided to take hold of the girl's left hand which made the girl feel slightly nervous. But Yang just made her do an awkward pinky promise handshake at least the girl seemed to be relieved and actually gave her a wide smile.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Yang asked but realized quickly soon after that she didn't have one. With a glance towards the girl, Yang's assumption was confirmed by the girl's confused look. "I'll call you Wolfy for now. If it's fine with you?"

The girl gave her another wide smile accompanied by a small laugh. "Fine by me!" Wolfy responded with joy.

* * *

"Good morning!" Yang yelled as she climbed up the ladders towards the attic. She heard some grumbling and saw a familiar blanket pull itself towards her.

Wolfy yawned and stretched in a way that made Yang wonder if she was a cat Faunus.

"Morning already?" Wolfy asked with a tired voice. She moved her blanket revealing her somehow even messier bed hair. After rubbing her eyes for a while she was able to see what Yang was carrying. "More stories!" she exclaimed with joy.

Yang just laughed at her antics while placing a couple of books in front of her. "I brought a few of my fairytale books, I think they are _pawfect_ for you!"

As usual, her pun went over Wolfy's ears but Yang was sure that one day she would understand her brilliant puns. Until then she would just teach her pupil to speak properly.

"Can you read this one?" Wolfy asked while holding onto a book with a picture of a fantasy castle in the cover.

"I don't know, this one has lots of pages and way too much text," Yang admitted. But Wolfy had already taken a place next to her and set the book between themselves.

Yang rolled her eyes before accepting her fate. Why did she have to pick that book? She asked herself as she opened the book's first page. It amazed her how fast Wolfy was able to learn, just three days ago Wolfy was struggling with forming basic sentences and now she was able to speak quite well. Of course, there was still a lot to learn, but they had plenty of time.

After an hour or two, they were thought the book and Yang's throat felt like a desert. Yet despite the uncomfortable feeling in her throat, she was having a good time. The story was simple and easy to read from beginning to end. It made her wonder why her father kept falling asleep whenever he read to her.

"That was good!" Wolfy exclaimed while sorting through the pictures in the book and remembering the story by them. "Do you think…" Wolfy began but seemed to hit a roadblock. "Could you read another one?"

Yang just groaned before standing up. "Maybe sometime later Wolfy. I would like to have a small pause for now and visit the kitchen."

Before Wolfy could use her ultimate weapon of persuasion Yang had already turned away from her sad puppy look.

"Don't worry I'll be back in a minute," Yang said as she was climbing down the attic ladder. "Oh! And do you want something from the kitchen?" she asked once she got downstairs.

"Another story!" Wolfy yelled from the attic causing Yang to just shake her head for a while.

After the small visit to the kitchen, Yang returned to the attic ladder with a large soda bottle and all sorts of goodies with her. And to think that her father thought that he could hide all the treats from her in the cabinet that had all the pans and kettles. But she had just taken some samples of all of them, she didn't know what Wolfy liked or disliked.

As she got up to the attic she spotted Wolfy just browsing through some of the books in hopes of seeing more pictures.

"Already moved on to another book?" she asked as she set a bowl on the floor before putting her treats into it. "Check what I brought!"

Wolfy brought her gaze away from the book and directed it to the bowl. "What is it?" she asked while sniffing the aroma flowing from it.

Yang gave a smirk before pushing the bowl towards her. "If you want to know you will have to find out yourself!"

There was some hesitation on Wolfy's face but she still took one of the chocolate bars. She brought it to her mouth and took a small bite. Then she just halted all of her movement while shifting her gaze between the bowl and Yang.

Yang was about to ask what was wrong but was cut off as Wolfy began to stuff her mouth full of the treats even before Yang could tell that it was meant to be served as a test to see what she would like. There was a long burp and soon the empty bowl was held in front of Yang by a Faunus girl whose tail wagging like it had a mind of its own. "More please."

"When was the last time you ate?" Yang couldn't help but ask.

Wolfy set the bowl down and brought her hands up before starting to count something with her fingers. "T-two or three months ago," she finally answered making Yang stunned. She didn't notice Yang's shocked expression and kept talking. "When your dad visited last time... he got some bread and boxes with him," she finished after thinking for a while.

A sad look came onto her face and she turned towards Yang. "And I bit him… I'm sorry."

What she finished with caused Yang to return to the moment. "Oh, don't worry about, nothing bad happened I guess? And he is still walking, so that's that. But what kind of boxes he brought here?"

Wolfy felt relief when Yang seemed to have forgiven her and started making her way towards one of her junk piles. After rummaging through some stuff she was able to find one of the boxes and brought it to Yang.

Yang inspected it and soon realized she was holding onto a lunch box. She twisted the metal pieces that held the lid closed and opened it. As soon as she did that she had to close it or otherwise she would have thrown up right there and then.

"This stings!" Yang pinched her nose as the smell hit her face. She looked towards Wolfy and saw her doing the same but unfortunately for Wolfy, her nose was way more sensitive to scents. Her eyes were watering and she was coughing like crazy.

"Sorry about that," Yang said and threw the safety hazard as far away she could. "At least we know now what happens to my dad's cooking if we don't eat them in a couple of months," she joked and gave a small laugh.

In return Wolfy glared at her for a moment before letting go of her own nose and taking deep breaths, only to realize that the smell still lingered in the air causing her to grab her nose again.

"That bad huh?" Yang asked before moving to the ladder. "How about we get out of here while we can?" she asked while waiting for Wolfy to follow her but instead, she just stayed where she was.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked accompanied by a worried expression.

Wolfy kept glancing towards her and the ladder she was standing on. "I'm not uhh... sure about going out," she finally answered. "I don't even what's out there. My home is nice and safe."

Yang gave a small frustrated sigh. So far it seemed that the Faunus living in her home's attic would never leave. "C'mon I told you there is nothing to be afraid of." Yang tried to reason with her. But in a sense she understood her. Wolfy had lived her entire life in the attic and asking her to come out was like asking somebody to jump out of a boat in the middle of an ocean.

But Yang knew that there was nothing dangerous downstairs. And although she had some great time with Wolfy in the attic, it would be great if she would be able to show her friend what the true world has to offer.

"Are you sure?" Wolfy asked for the first time surprising Yang.

"I guarantee it!" Yang swore and just to make it official, she raised her hand and made a small hook with her pinkie.

Wolfy seemed to be going through a dilemma of her own as she fidgeted where she stood. But instead of refusing the invitation like many times before she took a few steps closer and grabbed Yang's pinkie with her own and allowed herself to be pulled closer to the exit.

What followed was one of the greatest achievements that Yang had done in her eight years of life. She was already at the bottom of the ladder while still holding hands with Wolfy who took her sweet time coming down on the ladder.

Finally, Wolfy's feet touched the floor and she looked around the hallway eyes wide while her heart hammered her chest. Everything was so huge! There was so much space around her and she bet she could run with eyes closed for a while. Then she brought her gaze to her right and saw even more space which only made her feel more nervous.

She was about to head back to the attic but the sound of something closing behind her made her feel anguish. The ladder that led to her home closed behind her and now she was stuck in this foreign world.

"So, welcome to the real world!" Yang welcomed her and gave a small squeeze to her hand once she saw Wolfy's expression of panic. "What do you think?"

"Well… it's big." That was all she could say at the moment. She then turned towards Yang and gave her a pleading look. "Please, tell me I can go back?"

Yang was about to ask her why she would want to go back but stopped herself as she saw Wolfy's ears flopped against her head and her eyes despite being those of a creature of Grimm, held a sad puppy look that made it impossible for Yang to look away.

So she just let out a sigh before pointing towards the string that hung of the roof. "Just pull that string down and you will be able to go back up if you wish to." That seemed to work and soon a small smile made its way to Wolfy's face.

"Thank you," she said after she had managed to calm herself down.

They just stood there for a second before Yang decided to break the silence. "Welp, you have come all the way here so why not actually show you the house!" Yang exclaimed and took the role of a tour guide. "As you can see we are currently in the second-floor hallway. On this end of the hallway, we have the office of a legendary huntsman Taiyang Xiao Long! As well the second bathroom of this fine house." She then turned and faced towards the other end of the hallway. "And in there is mister Xiao Long's 'man cave', our guest room, and the room of amazing Yang Xiao Long!"

Wolfy couldn't help but laugh at her guide's enthusiasm.

"But our tour is mainly located on the first floor for now so if you have any business to attend to in bathroom do it now," Yang said and waited for Wolfy's response.

"Uhh… I don't think so?" she answered not really knowing what business she was supposed to do. Soon she found an arm wrapped around her shoulders before being lead towards a set of stairs. Despite the reassuring arm around herself, she couldn't stop her stomach from twisting as she made her way towards the first floor.

"And here we have the living room!" Yang let go of her and walked towards the sofa and grabbed something off it. "Here we a remote. With this you can control what comes from the tv, just watch!" she said before pointing towards the holo tv.

It turned on and it immediately made Wolfy's jaw go loose. Where once was just air now floated an image that actually moved! Then Yang gave her the remote and shoved her what to press to change the channels. One minute she was looking at some forest full of exotic life and the next there was somebody talking about something.

"I will be heading into the kitchen. However, I can't allow you to enter, staff only." Before Wolfy could ask what she meant with that her guide had already disappeared into the next room.

At least she had something to keep her mind off her predicament. But despite how much she tried to focus on the moving images, there still something twisting her stomach.

After a minute she finally realized what was going on. "Yang?" she called out to her guide.

"In a minute!" Yang yelled from the kitchen.

It was then that her stomach really started twisting so much that it was actually painful. She didn't know if it was the treats, the bad smell, the overall experience, or all of the above. "Yang!" she called out but her voice didn't come out loud as she wanted it to come.

Finally, Yang came back from the kitchen carrying a large soda bottle. "_Howl_ much do you-" Only for her to see Wolfy holding her right arm over her stomach and her left hand on her mouth. "Wolfy get off the carpet!" she yelled but there wasn't much she could do before the disaster struck.


	3. Chapter 3

**RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and to its original creator Monty Oum rip.**

* * *

Mornings could start worse.

Or at least that's what Yang kept telling herself as she was in the bathroom upstairs with a smelly pair of carpet and a blanket. She hoped that the smell would go away from the bathroom if she kept the door and some of the windows open. But unfortunately for her, the smell didn't seem to go away and her friend was only making the situation worse.

"Please don't do this!" Wolfy yelled as she kept herself above the water by keeping her feet and hands on the tub's edges. "I said sorry!"

"Apology accepted. Now get in!" Yang grunted as she tried to push the young Faunus in the bath. But despite her best effort Wolfy still managed to keep herself off the water.

"Somebody help!" Wolfy called out when her right hand almost slipped. "I don't want to rob!"

Yang stopped pushing and gave a confused look to Wolfy. "What does robbing have to do anything with this?" she asked and hoped that Wolfy wasn't catching on to what she trying to do.

"Isn't it when life ends-" Wolfy began and unconsciously eased her grip on the tub. Yang saw this and quickly moved on in her plan.

Before the Faunus could react, Yang had grabbed her right hand and leg before flipping Wolfy in the air causing her to fall back first into the water. As soon she was in the water she started trying to get out. Yang expected this and now instead of trying to get the Faunus into the bath, she was now struggling to keep her in it.

After a minute of wrestling with Yang, Wolfy realized that instead of drowning in cold water she could easily keep her head over the water level, and the water was actually quite warm. She calmed down and just sat there while looking towards out of breath Yang.

"Didn't expect," Wolfy said while getting into a better position.

Yang in turn just released an exhausted grunt before grabbing a soap bottle. "Seriously when I say trust me. Trust me," Yang said and started pouring soap on Wolfy's head.

But during their struggle, they didn't hear the flap of wings as a bird entered the house through one of the open windows, nor somebody's steps as they made their way towards the bathroom.

"Kiddo I'm back!" Yang heard a familiar voice call out for her in the hallway. "And is somebody dying or- damn what's that smell!" Both of the girls looked towards the open bathroom door and saw a man who froze as he saw them.

He was a tall man with spiky gray-black hair, red eyes, and he had some stubble along his jawline. He was currently wearing a gray dress shirt, black dress pants, and same colored dress shoes.

All of them just stayed where they were not saying anything. But what caught Yang's attention was her uncle's shocked look as he looked towards Wolfy. It was then that she heard a small growl coming from her left.

Wolfy was currently baring her teeth and her hands morphed into claws with dagger-like nails as she grabbed onto the tub's edge. Yet despite the growling and the nails, it was Wolfy's glare at Qrow which made her look psychotic.

It actually creeped out Yang a bit so she decided to try and cut whatever was going on. "Wolfy!" she yelled to her friend. Wolfy gave a few glances towards her and the claws did seem to start evaporating into thin air. But she was still baring her teeth at Qrow while growling little.

"Umm… Yang, we have to talk," Qrow said while taking a few steps back away from the bathroom. "Like right now, preferably in downstairs if that's possible."

Yang gave a confused look towards her uncle before looking at her friend. Wolfy had stopped growling and now was just glancing between them while blinking rapidly.

"Alright, I'll meet you there. But first I must say something to her," Yang said and pointed towards Wolfy in the bath.

Qrow just nodded before walking away from the bathroom door.

As Qrow left Wolfy stopped her glaring and seemed to fully calm down. "Can you… not growl when you meet somebody new?" Yang asked once she was sure Wolfy was back to herself.

"Uum… I- he was shocked?" Wolfy seemingly tried to reason with Yang. "I don't know… I'm sorry?" she said while playing with some foam in the bath.

Yang just sighed before grabbing a rubber duck from a nearby box. "Just try not to growl at everything okay?" she said and gave the duck to Wolfy. "Stay here and get yourself comfy. I'll go downstairs for a while."

* * *

"So you smacked her with a bat?" Qrow asked while trying to make a sense of what Yang told him. He and Yang were currently sitting at a small table in the kitchen. "Hmm… why we didn't think of that," Qrow muttered to himself.

"About hitting a girl with a bat?" Yang butted in with a joking tone. "Although if I knew what was up in the attic, I wouldn't have hit Wolfy!" she pointed out while giving her uncle accusing glare.

Qrow sighed while thinking if he could take a swig off his flask. "We had our reasons to keep this whole debacle as a secret. And really, Wolfy?"

"What? It was the best name I came up with at the moment," Yang defended herself while trying to move on to other things. "And besides! Why shouldn't I know about the girl who lived in our attic for who knows how long! So no more 'once you've grown' just tell me what's going on."

Qrow looked at her with a neutral face but Yang saw some hint of sadness in his eyes as he was thinking how to proceed.

"Fine." He finally answered. "Just promise me that none of what I say leaves this house." Yang just made an expression of zipping her own mouth before throwing the imaginary zipper away. "Kiddo, I need to hear it," Qrow said with a cold tone that surprised Yang.

"I promise!"

Again Qrow just kept a neutral expression on his face but this time he looked to be examining her. They just sat there in silence with the table between them.

"Alright," he began and took a more relaxed position. "Buckle up Kiddo. I'm gonna tell you a story. I'll try to keep it brief but we will have to go back in time."

He took out his silver flask and took a couple of gulps from before setting it aside and turning towards Yang. "Do you remember your mother?" he asked and received a nod from Yang. "I will have to bring her up."

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," Yang said surprising Qrow. "I mean, she and dad left each other because they didn't love each other. Right?"

Qrow just gave a small smile and ruffled her hair for a while. "Look at that, you have grown," he joked which earned a pout from the blonde. "Anyway our story starts a few weeks after the day you came to this world. I learned about the situation involving your father's and my sister's relationship and how it did not look good."

"It wasn't long before Raven left Taiyang," he paused for a while and looked towards an empty soda bottle on the table. "Tai didn't take it easy and I saw him cry his eyes out several times." Yang couldn't help but snicker at the thought of her dad crying. But quickly stopped once she saw Qrow's serious look.

"Although he was getting a bit better day by day," he began again once he was sure he had her attention. "He was healing very slowly. And he had a baby to take care of as well. So I called our specialized positivity magnet."

He took out an old photograph from one of his pockets and presented it to her.

In the picture were four young adults posing near a tree. Two of them she immediately recognized as her uncle and her dad from their younger years. On the right side of her father stood a woman with long messy black hair and the same red eyes that Qrow had. It was her mother, she had seen some old pictures of her and Taiyang smiling and having fun together.

But what caught her eye in the photo was the woman on the left side of the picture. She had a white cloak around with a hood over her head. The cloaked woman had shoulder-length black hair that ended with red tips. The resemblance between her and Wolfy was clear as day. The only major difference besides age between them was their eyes. The woman had bright silver eyes instead of Wolfy's red with black sclera.

"Her name is Summer Rose," Qrow said bringing Yang out of her thoughts. She let go off the photograph letting him put it back to his pocket. "She was the leader of our ragtag team Stark. Beyond naive but if you had a bad day she would be there for you." He chuckled at some memory before continuing. "So I called her and told about Tai. And even before the day ended she came knocking on the door."

He took a moment to walk down the memory lane before coming back to reality. "It was like seeing a miracle happen right before me. I don't know how but somehow she managed to bring Tai back to his former self within a matter of days.

"But she just didn't leave him after he got better. Sum decided to stay and help Tai with you," he paused for a chuckle before continuing. "At the time I could bet a million lien that this house was going to be called the Xiao-Rose household."

Yang just sat there before carefully asking, "What happened?"

Qrow went silent for a while. "Around the time when you were just one-year-old. Summer went on a mission. We don't know what kind of mission, but what she told us it was just a simple huntress job and that she would be back in a week.

"Well, a week went by. We heard nothing. Second, followed soon after. Your father and I joined the search party. On the third week we didn't do anything but look for her."

He let out a long sigh before confirming Yang's doubts. "We didn't find her. Yet for the next few years, we took shifts in looking for her and taking care of you.

"During your fourth birthday Tai decided to celebrate your birthday and took you to his relatives, I allowed him to go and offered that I would look for Summer in the meantime. He really needed the break from all of that.

"Most of the search party had quit and she was declared as deceased. I was currently checking some wild forest in the north of Sanus. There I came across a rundown house that was constantly at the brink of collapse."

He took out the old photograph and looked towards Summer. "I finally found something. Just in the middle of the dusty floor inside the house, laid the very same white cloak that Summer used to wear.

"I began my search through the house and soon saw a Boarbatusk. It was bashing a wall so it didn't see me coming. I dispatched it quickly and examined the wall. There had to be a reason why it was trying to get into the wall. I cut it open with my weapon and peered inside."

He took out his scroll and began going through his pictures. "I couldn't believe my eyes what I saw." He showed a picture of a small toddler who couldn't be anyone else other than Wolfy. She was wrapped in a gray coat looking very cute and Yang couldn't help let out a small 'aw' which caused Qrow to chuckle lightly. "Don't let the looks fool you, she already had her claws and if she had slashed any lower I wouldn't be here."

Yang gave him a confused look so Qrow decided to show her his wound. He lifted his chin up and traced the spot between his chin and neck where three thin scars could be seen.

"Yikes," Yang let out as she saw the scars.

"You tell me," Qrow groaned. "I had to sacrifice my coat just so she wouldn't slash me more. After that, I took a picture and sent it to Tai. As he saw the picture he had the same thought as I. That the small slasher had a striking resemblance to none other than Summer."

Yang looked at the picture before asking Qrow, "Why was she in the attic? And why all the secrecy?"

"Well, at first we set the guestroom for her, but it wasn't long before she was out and scratching the door to your room." Yang was confused for a while before thinking what Wolfy would have done and felt a shiver go down her spine.

As if sensing her discomfort Qrow commented on it. "Yeah… I don't think she would have come for you for some snuggles.

"So just to be sure we decided to try to make the attic a place for her." He brought his hand to his arm and traced some faint lines going across them. "Let's just say it wasn't easy with what was essentially a Grimm pup nearby. But we managed and after a while, we cleared the attic enough for a small child."

He just chuckled at the memory of him and Taiyang going around the attic with Wolfy biting them and scathing them whenever she had the chance. "Despite all that effort the worst was yet to come. Just a couple of days after we had finished the room she had disappeared leaving no trace of herself. Of coarse Tai and I started panicking and told you that we had a vermin problem in the house. Do you remember it?"

Yang brought her hand to her chin and started thinking for a while. "Was it when I was sent to grandpa for a couple of weeks?"

Qrow smiled and answered after a while. "Yes, I think so. But anyway later we found out she had managed to get inside the walls in the attic. And despite all of our efforts to fix the walls, she still managed to get inside."

"Well anyway the rest is history," he said and took a deep breath. "We tried to get her act less… feral. But whatever we did she responded with growling and tried attacking us. As the years went by her claws and teeth only got sharper so I started visiting her less frequently as did Tai."

A solemn look came over his face. "As for why we kept this as a secret. Well, she is essentially humanoid Grimm. This is some Ozbin level stuff. Of course, we weren't going to keep her up there forever. We just hoped we could make her act more like a real child so that the other hunter associations wouldn't just count her as a feral Grimm and lock her up in a cell for some experiments."

After his story, they just sat there in silence as Yang processed the story in her head. She looked towards Qrow who was expecting her to say something.

"Wow," Yang began. "This is a lot to take in."

"Yeah… take your time. I just hope that our talk has cleared some things up. And I think you should go back to Wolfy-" He cut himself off as he said the name. "We'll have to come up with a proper name for her."

There was a slight glimmer in Yang's eyes that Qrow didn't like at all. "Can I give her a full name," she asked eagerly.

"If it's anything like the one she has now then I don't think she would appreciate it later." Qrow shot down her dreams as he rose from his seat.

"Well, Wolfy seemed to like when I named her!" Yang exclaimed.

Qrow just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before saying, "From what you told me, she could barely speak let alone understand what it means to have a name." Before she could protest he cut her off. "But if you want you can give suggestions. And who knows? Maybe your head has something else other than air in it."

Yang pouted for a while before a thought crossed her head. "So you're telling me there's a chance I can name her?" she asked causing Qrow to roll his eyes as he made his way towards the door leading to a terrace outside.

Maybe some clear air could help his inevitable headache.


	4. Chapter 4

**RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and to its original creator Monty Oum rip.**

* * *

Qrow walked downstairs towards the living room where Yang was currently watching TV. He grumbled something as he reached the sofa.

"Hey, how did it go?" Yang asked despite already knowing the answer as she saw her extremely tired-looking uncle

For an answer, he just lifted his already thorn dark red cape that had four new holes in it. He traced the tears in his cape with his fingers while wondering if he should try and fix or just get rid of it altogether.

"Do I have to say?" He slumped on the sofa next to her with a sigh. "But, I guess I should have known this was going to happen. And no Yang, I can't just think of happy things to make her not try to attack me."

Yang gave a small smile as she tried to think of something positive to say. "Well, we know that she is attracted to negative emotions like all Grimm are. So why don't you just try to suppress all of your emotions?"

"It's not that easy. Emotions are part of what makes us human, and the Grimm are attracted to us anyways." He sighed and wondered what he could do.

"You could always use the bat," Yang suggested.

"As I said, I'm not just gonna hit her! Despite what she is I just can't harm a young girl." Qrow glanced towards Yang and wondered how she managed to tame the girl in the attic.

He leaned forward on the seat while glancing towards the bat leaning against a wall. After a minute of deep thinking, he seemed to have come up with a plan.

"What are you thinking?" Yang asked.

"Well, it's worth a shot," Qrow muttered as he rose from his seat. He took a few steps towards the windows and looked outside into a sunny day. "Go get her and bring her to the backyard. I think I have a plan."

Before Yang could ask he already walked out the door. She shrugged her shoulders before jumping off the couch and began her walk to the attic.

Once she was back in the attic she saw Wolfy sitting on the old bed and munching on what appeared to be a part of Qrow's cape. She was currently wearing a bright red sweater so large that its helm easily reached her knees. Yang had given it to her to replace her old puke-smelling blanket.

Wolfy saw Yang and froze. She glanced between her and the dark red cloth she was chewing on. After spitting it out she waved at Yang while giving her a wide smile.

"Hi," Yang greets her and motioned her to follow. "Qrow asked us to come outside."

* * *

Qrow looked at his scroll while leaning on a broom he had taken with him to the backyard. Yang sure took her time to get the little Grimm out because he had been standing in the middle of the opening for ten minutes. He was about to go in and check if something had happened when he heard the door open.

What he saw made him chuckle for a second. Yang was keeping her hands at Wolfy's back and pushing her forwards. Poor Wolfy seemed to be at the brink of hyperventilating as she kept looking all around herself.

But luckily she seemed to calm down somewhat and actually seemed to be curious about her surroundings.

"Hey," Qrow called out to Yang while Wolfy was busy examining the ground and playing with dirt.

"Hi! So why are we outside?" Yang couldn't help but ask from the huntsman before a hopeful glint light up her eyes. "Are you finally teaching me how to fight?"

"No." With that Qrow shot down her dream making Yang bout. "I don't have time for that. Besides I do teach plenty of brats already at Signal," he joked and received a small punch from Yang.

"Then why did you want us out here?"

"Well, I'm here to test a small theory that I came up with." He made a small twirl with his broom before planting it firmly on the ground. "And since you're so eager, you can watch how I usually teach the kids."

Yang gave him a confused look before shifting her gaze to Wolfy who was at the moment trying to swallow a large pine cone.

It wasn't long before Yang realized what Qrow was talking about. "You're going to have a spar with her!"

"Bingo," Qrow replied.

"But I thought you didn't want to hit her!" Yang couldn't think of a way that the incoming spar couldn't end in another way than Wolfy lying on the ground her small body filled with bruises.

Qrow was a fully trained huntsman which meant that his major job was hunting down the creatures of Grimm. And the fact had he had graduated from the pristine Beacon Academy and was currently teaching in another academy, meant that he wasn't somebody to mess around with.

"Don't worry kiddo!" Qrow said to her. "I'm just going to show what I do to some snobbish kids." That didn't really ease Yang's mind but she allowed Qrow to approach Wolfy.

As if feeling his presence Wolfy turned towards him and gave her scariest growl she could, but with a pine cone in her mouth, it just sounded like snoring at best.

Qrow twirled the broom around before pointing it towards her. "C'mere little pup," Qrow said and motioned for her to get closer with his free hand.

Of course, for a response, he got louder growl that actually sounded like one once she had let go of the pine cone. At first, Wolfy just stayed on her spot occasionally glancing towards Yang like asking for some kind of permission. Yang raised her hands and shoulders to sign that she didn't what was going on.

"Oh don't be scared to throw some punches" Wolfy lunged at him with her newly formed claws making him dodge to his right "or slashes. Eh, whatever suits you."

Before she could launch another set of slashes he jumped a couple of feet back and waited for her next move.

They circled each other as Yang watched with excitement and worry. At least so far nothing bad happened and they seemed to just measure one another. Just as Yang thought about that both of them rushed toward each other.

"Let's get this started." Grow only made small movements but somehow he managed the avoid all of Wolfy's attacks. In fact, it seemed that he was only playing with her while she was out for blood. "Not so scary when you're in the open."

Qrow's taunt seemed to anger her and soon she started her next round of slashes towards his body. Despite how fast she was going, her attacks were only sloppy at best for the huntsman.

Just as she was getting close to land a slash he just took a took step back and pointed his broom to her chest keeping her there. She tried to take away the broom and hit it, but Qrow easily avoided it by moving his broom away before setting it back between themselves.

As he expected he started seeing Wolfy become more frustrated and angry as he kept pushing and avoiding her attacks. So he decided to up his game.

He lowered the brush of his broom to the ground letting Wolfy have an opening to strike. She took the bait and stepped over the brush not noticing Qrow's grin. Before she could react her foot was pulled from underneath her causing her to fall to her back. She heard Qrow laugh at her so she quickly raised herself to her feet, only to be tripped again by the huntsman.

This went on for a while. Yang kept asking herself why Qrow was just playing with her seemingly not worrying about the Grimm who was trying to harm him. Her thinking was cut off once she heard Wolfy let out an angry roar and leap towards Qrow baring her claws and fangs.

She was almost close enough to his torso when her movement was halted by Qrow who put the broomstick sideways and let her dig her teeth into it. Even still she was trying to reach for him with her sharp claws.

What she didn't expect was that this was all Qrow's plan.

He let go of the broom and instead grabbed her wrists. She gave a small yelp causing the broom to fall of her mouth as she was turned around and put against the ground on her belly. Qrow was holding her claws behind her back with his right hand as he reached for the broom with his left one.

She tried to break free off his hold while growling loudly at him. But there wasn't much she could do and her growling completely stopped once he brought the broom to her neck.

It was like a magic trick for Yang. Once Wolfy acting like a feral wolf was now completely still and didn't make any sound or attempts to get free. Instead, she was looking at Grow with her left eye and waited for him to do something to her.

"Can you stop?" Qrow suddenly asked breaking the silence. Wolfy just gave him a small nod for an answer. Slowly but surely he took the broom away from her neck and threw it away. Then he let go of her but kept standing near her.

Wolfy raised herself to her feet but didn't prepare for another attack. She didn't even growl at him! Instead, she just looks at him with a neutral expression with some confusion behind her red eyes.

They just stood near each other in complete silence. Just as Yang was about to ask what was going on Wolfy raised her hand, which was actually a hand instead of a claw towards him and waved.

"Hi."

Qrow waved back at her and repeated what she said. "Hi."

Again they stood there for a minute before Wolfy started to take a few steps back. It wasn't long before she left and went inside the house without saying a word.

"Uhh… what was that?" Yang still couldn't wrap her head around what had just happened so she just turned towards Qrow. "Can you tell me what you just did?"

Qrow looked at the door from which Wolfy just entered before turning to his niece. "I showed her that I'm strong but also harmless to her." That didn't clear it for Yang so he decided to put it more simply. "She knows that I respect her and she respects me back."

Yang glanced towards where Wolfy had gone to. She still wasn't fully sure what happened but it seemed to work at least. So this was a win?

"Anyway we should head back inside," he said and turned towards Yang with a smirk. "I hope you took notes 'cause I'm not doing that again. Oh, and I should mention that I came up with a proper name for her."

"When did you think of that?"

Qrow walked to the door and opened for her. "Somewhere along with the spar."

* * *

A long and frustrated sigh could be heard from Xiao-Long household's living room.

"What's wrong with my name? I think it would be perfect for her!" Yang was trying to convince Qrow to accept her genius proposal. But so far the huntsman seemed to only try and sink into the couch they were sitting on again.

"I'll admit it kiddo. That is so far the most reasonable name you have suggested." What he said made Yang feel hopeful that what she suggested would come true. "But I don't think Redalex the Destroyer would be a good name."

Yang grumbled something but other that she didn't object to what he said. But in her humble opinion, it was at least a hundred times better what Qrow proposed. At least her name wasn't based on a season!

"I think we should stick to my idea and call her Autumn. It would be similar to Summer's name."

"But why don't we call her Winter or Fall, if we have to name her after a season?" Yang wasn't going to give up so easily. Wolfy's name will be something epic!

Qrow sighed and rubbed his hairline when he felt his headache rise. "As long as the moon is broken, she won't be called Winter! And making her first name Fall sounds like some kind of villain."

"How about instead of bothering you with naming her, let me do it!" Yang had taken a small paper from somewhere and she cleared her throat.

Before Qrow could ask what she was reading she began listing her names that she came up with and started giving reasons for why her name ideas were the "best". Qrow was honestly surprised how much thought she had but to this. But of course, this being Yang meant that most of the ideas behind her names were ridiculous. Like who would use their own name as a superhero name?

"Yang, Yang." He tried to stop her but she was focused on convincing him that she didn't notice his tries to get attention. Once her carefully crafted list was taken off her hands did she finally stop. "There we go. Let's just meet in the middle and call her Autumn Rose."

"Don't you know what it means to meet in the middle?" Yang asked and reached for her list. "And if we are going to do just that. At least let me give her a better name!" As Yang thought of what she said an idea popped into her head.

"Just call for her and we will settle this." He gave her back her list and started to wonder if Tai had any alcohol hidden in his office.

Yang looked like she wanted to continue arguing but reluctantly agreed to call for the girl upstairs. "Wolfy come here I have something to say to you!" After she finished she looked towards Qrow who was about to raise himself off the couch and get out of the room.

But he halted his movement when he was on his feet and looked behind the couch. Wolfy just stood there next to the first step of the stairs.

"You called me?" she asked from Yang who also now noticed Wolfy standing near them. To their surprise, she wasn't growling at Qrow and her hands didn't morph into claws. The only thing that she did that unsettled Qrow was her neutral stare.

Yang had to make sure that Wolfy was actually seeing Qrow instead of him suddenly becoming invisible to her. But to her amazement, Wolfy could see Qrow judging from how she kept glancing at both of them

"Huh, I guess it worked." Qrow was feeling quite good now. It seemed that he had managed to make her not try to harm him whenever he was near. But there was still some skepticism in her eyes. Either way, he counted this as a victory!

Maybe they could save her after all. Qrow turned towards Yang and said, "Anyway, why don't you tell her about her new name we agreed on."

"Alright." Yang agreed and hoped that he wasn't seeing her smile. "Wolfy! Under the eyes of a huntsman Qrow Branwen. I hereby name you Autumn Wolfy Rose!"

Qrow should have realized why she was being so theatrical. But before he could have intertwined the damage was already done. The little Grimm let out a squeal of excitement and with that, it might as well been carved into stone.

There were days that he wished he hadn't cleared Tai's liquor cabinet. This was one of those days. "Please kiddo. The least you could have done was to spare me off any headache." Yang wasn't listening as she was laughing at the very excited Autumn. "Have fun kids. I'm heading upstairs," he said and started climbing the stairs

He had a phone call to make.

* * *

Tai was starting to think that Qrow's semblance was somehow still affecting him despite he being in Atlas. Currently, he was trying to talk with somebody, but it was like the world was doing everything it could to stop that.

"Did you hear me?" Tai yelled over the howling breeze to an old man that seemed to be a skipper. If he had known that the dock he was in was going to be ravaged by a storm he would have just stayed at his hotel.

"Listen, son!" The skipper took a few steps closer. "You need to come closer. I can't hear a word that you're saying!"

The skipper shifted his still somewhat functioning ear to him while Tai came closer.

Just as Tai was about to open his mouth he felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket. He took it out while lifting his index finger to skipper for a sign of pause. There was a name of his old friend on the scroll, he accepted the call with a grunt.

"Took you long enough to call!" he said with an annoyed tone. "Anyway how is it going there?" he asked but secretly hoped that nothing bad happened. He simply didn't have time for worrying.

_"That's not how you greet somebody."_ Qrow's voice came from the other side._ "And stop blowing on your scroll it's irritating."_

"I'm not- how are things back at home?"

Qrow went silent for a while which didn't help his mood. He was about to yell at the scroll but the sound of a familiar drawer being pulled open caught his ear.

"What are you doing in my office?"

There were more sounds of drawers being pulled open. _"Hmm… sorry did say something?"_

"Qrow what is going on and what are you doing in my office?"

There was a long sigh on the other. _"Well, a lot has happened here while you have been on your trip. Do you wish to know?"_

Taiyang thought about for a second before coming to a conclusion. "Nah, spare me the details. I'll fix whatever you have broken there once I get back."

_"But I haven't broken anything!"_ Qrow said with a fake whine. _"But for real Tai, I would- ooh, what we have here!"_

He heard something clinging against some wood. It wasn't long before he realized what it was. "Qrow put that back!"

_"And you complain about how I drink on the job!"_

"Qrow don't you even dare! That is reserved for quests!" There was a loud popping sound from the other side of the line.

_"This is some gourmet shit."_

"Qrow no!" The call was cut off before he could tell Qrow what he would do to him once he gets back.

With a heavy sigh, he turned back towards the old man. "Is there a way for me to get into Vale from here?" he asked once he was sure that The skipper would hear him.

The skipper gave him a confused look before asking, "Did I hear that right? You wanted to go all the way to Vale from here?" Tai gave him a nod for an answer. "Well, son. You have come to the wrong place. We only have simple fisher boats, there is no way we would risk bumping into some sea Grimm!"

Tai groaned as he began to think that his journey to the docks was all just a waste of time. But before he could say thanks and leave the skipper tapped his shoulder and pointed towards an empty dock.

"But if you're that desperate you can always try getting on SDC cargo ship. They should be coming here in the evening, and from what I've heard they also have a space for pets too."

* * *

**Revisited: May 31.**


	5. Chapter 5

**RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and to its original creator Monty Oum, rest in peace.**

* * *

The huntsman profession could be quite taxing if you asked Qrow.

But he did have some other more _secretive_ missions besides regular Grimm hunting ones. And thanks to his employer headmaster Ozpin and his small circle, Qrow was always pushed into the far corners of Remnant.

Yet he couldn't really complain about his job. Sure he was getting tired of constantly chasing after some vague rumors and having almost no free time for himself. But it was way better than just accepting the role his parents were originally pushing him towards and he got to see the world. That of course included the different bars that he liked to spend some of his time in.

In fact, he was currently sitting in a bar while holding onto a glass of whiskey. And to make his day even better the bartender was a good-looking woman who was eager to have a small chat with him when he ordered another drink.

Qrow couldn't remember what they were talking about but it didn't really matter. They were exchanging some small jokes and the conversation wasn't getting dull. If he played his cards right, this could lead to something great. The only thing that was trying to ruin his streak was the lights on the ceiling. The drunken huntsman could have sworn that the lights were getting brighter and brighter.

It was only getting worse and he was about to complain about them until he felt the bartender poke his face.

At first, he just laughed. But she just kept poking and it was starting to get annoying. A minute later he tried to stop her with his own hands, but despite what he did he couldn't stop her from poking his face. It was like his arms were made out of jelly and refused to listen to him.

At that point the lights were unbearable and the poking just continued. Then he heard the voice of his niece and his mind started processing the knowledge it got.

Why would Yang be in a bar? Isn't she like eight or something? As his mind began thinking critically Qrow finally realized where he was.

It wasn't long before he felt the real light shine through his eyelids and he was beginning to lose his grip on his dreamland. He could only crumble as the image of the perfect bartender vanished off his mind and he found himself lying a couch.

He carefully opened his eyes adjusting to the light. It wasn't long until he recognized the all too familiar living room he was sleeping in. After trying to move for a bit he saw that he was still wearing his normal outfit.

If he had to guess he probably had collapsed on the couch after enjoying Tai's treasured drink. Qrow made a mental note to scold Tai for leaving his alcohol in such an easily accessible place. But what caught his attention was the Faunus girl in front of who at the moment was poking his fore heard with her finger.

"He dead?" Autumn asked Yang who standing beside her waiting for Qrow to wake up.

"What makes you think that?"

Autumn stopped poking him and carefully sniffed the air near the drunken huntsman. "He smells bad."

"That's just how he normally smells like," Yang pointed out and noticed that her uncle's eyes were open. "Oh, you're awake. Good morning!"

Qrow muttered something about mornings before giving a small wave to the kids. A glass of water was set in front of his face by Yang and he downed it all in one gulp. He thanked Yang once he felt the dryness in his throat go away.

After that, he tried to push himself off the couch but as soon as he did that the world started spinning around him and he found his head back on the couch. There was no way he would get up for a while. "What are you doing?" he asked the girls who still just stood next to him.

"We are hungry and there's nothing good to eat."

Yang's answer made Qrow let out a sigh. There were plenty of meals in the fridge but he knew that Yang wouldn't even touch them. Luckily he did remember bringing some bread and milk.

"There's some bread on the counter. Go and make some toast, I have somebody waiting for me." Before the young blonde could add anything her uncle rolled on his other side and fell into a deep slumber from which he would not easily nor willingly wake up.

With a sigh, she turned towards her friend and motioned towards the kitchen. "It seems that he won't be making us breakfast today." Yang really liked Qrow's cookings because he knew exactly what she liked and he could somehow make a dinner out of thin air.

It bummed out her but the feeling quickly vanished once a new idea emerged in her head. She could spend this morning teaching Autumn how to make breakfast! With that in mind, she grabbed her friend's hand and began leading her towards the kitchen.

* * *

"So, wanna talk about it?"Yang asked from Autumn who sat right next to her on the kitchen table. Her friend didn't seem to get the message so she decided to be a bit more precise. "You know… almost stabbing the toaster with your claws."

Autumn was struck with realization and she became shy. "I, erm, sorry," Autumn apologized and hoped that she hadn't made Yang upset.

To her relief, the young blonde didn't seem to be angry. Instead, she just held her hand up and gave a small smile. "Hey, no worries and no real harm done right? Besides, I was just kinda curious about your claws."

Autumn let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in when she knew she wasn't in trouble. So far the "staff only" area seemed way too dangerous for her. If she had known about the toaster, she wouldn't have kept staring at the red lines inside it when it tried to throw some bread in her face.

But as Yang said no real harm was done and she was just startled. So, she turned towards her friend and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Well," Yang began and got a closer look at her friend's hands. "How do you make them into claws?"

Autumn scratched her head as she thought about it. "I… don't know. They just come out?"

"Alright," Yang said sounding really curious. "Anyway could you make them appear? I've heard that some Faunus have the ability to make their nails longer."

Autumn began thinking about it as she set her dark hand against the table. After a while, she brought herself back in time when the toaster tried to burn her face and soon she felt a familiar feeling coarse through her arm.

Yang watched it happen with great interest as her friend's hand was covered in dark smoke. The said smoke settled over her fingers and started forming her fingers into something else. A few seconds later the smoke dispatched showing a row of five white dagger-like nails. It seemed that instead of making her nails longer, the smoke reshaped her fingers. Only one joint of her fingers remained before turning into sharp almost kitchen knife looking claws.

Yang was amazed and it seemed that Autumn was as well. Autumn wondered why she hadn't tried this before. Instead of immediately vanishing once she relaxed, they stayed on her hand, letting her have a close look at them.

"That's amazing! What else can you do?" Yang asked as her friend was tapping her nails against the table.

"Don't know," Autumn replied honestly and turned towards Yang. "You have claws too right?"

"Nah, I'm just a human." Yang shrugged before continuing with a small laugh. "But who knows? Maybe my semblance will allow me to do something like that!"

Autumn couldn't help herself but laugh alongside Yang. But soon a new thought surfaced in her mind. Was this her semblance?

She knew that "semblance" was basically a fancy word for a superpower. Most of the stories, that Yang read for her, had heroes who used their semblances to solve problems or to get out of a pinch. The powers usually varied from simply speed or strength boosts to cloning or illusion powers.

It would explain her hands. Maybe her semblance gave her claws that could cut through anything? Her thoughts shifted into a hero who had similar powers but despite how hard she tried, she couldn't remember his name.

Her train of thoughts was cut off by Yang who tapped her shoulder and pointed towards a plate in front of her. "Sorry to bring you back to Remnant but you better dig in before your toast gets cold."

Autumn hummed as affirmative before she reached for her plate with her hands instead of claws. It seemed that the moment she had lost concertation her claws had disappeared.

She pushed that thought away and started examining her toast. She poked it and sniffed it couple times. "Will it make me sick?" she asked Yang who just shook her head.

"I don't think a piece of bread will be bad for you," she replied while munching on her own toast. "And besides, last time you ate an entire bowl of candy under a minute. It was bound to make you sick."

That didn't convince Autumn but she had eaten some bread before so she trusted that it would stay down. Carefully taking one bite after another she was actually starting to like it.

If Yang hadn't been so adamant about it, Autumn would have just skipped breakfast. As far as she was sure she didn't need food or didn't even feel hungry. But Yang had insisted that she needed to eat more often and now she was beginning to see why.

"Was great," Autumn admitted once she realized that she had already eaten what was left of her toast in one bite.

Yang chuckled before replying, "If you think so, you should wait and see what Qrow can make!"

As if on cue the man with a mild case of hangover wobbled on to the kitchen doorway. He leaned on it while rubbing his forehead for a while before he managed to look up towards the children.

"Good morning," he simply said to them as he pulled out his scroll from his pocket. "Huh? It's just ten that's way too early," he muttered to himself and walked to a coffee maker.

"Good morning, again." Yang greeted him before adding, "Coffee is on the right top shelf."

He thanked her and began preparing his coffee. As he was doing that he also tried to look up some news from his scroll. It was hard to read with the text spinning in his eyes but he did manage to pick up on some headlines.

One particular article caught his attention and he brought the scroll right next to his face in order to get a sense of what he was reading.

The article told about how The Atlas forces had managed to kill off the Nevermores circling the Atlas airport. And with new precautions on full use, it should take only a few days for the air traffic to return to normal.

'_Few days? This speeds things up.' _He sighed and turned back towards the kids on the table. "Hey Goldilocks," he called out to Yang. "It seems that your daddy will be back sooner than we thought. We might have to brainstorm some ideas as to how we're gonna introduce him and Autumn."

The young blonde brought her hand to her chin and began thinking deeply while occasionally glancing at Autumn. "Maybe we should just let things go naturally. I mean she has already got to know both of us so maybe it won't be so bad with dad."

Qrow didn't buy what Yang was suggesting at all. But her words did have some truth to them. Autumn did seem to be completely calm even while he was near. So maybe there was a chance that Autumn wouldn't try to attack Tai.

He redirected his gaze towards the Faunus and saw her munching on her red sweater. He really needed to get her some proper clothes. "Guess we'll have to find out as we go. But we have plenty of time, so as for now let's focus on the matters at hand."

He poured himself a cup of coffee and then asked, "Do you want any?"As he expected Yang's face morphed into that of disgust and she made a small gagging noise. "It's not that bad. And trust me, this will save your mornings."

"I would rather drink water from a puddle than that nasty thing you call coffee!" Qrow rolled his eyes at Yang's decoration but soon his focus turned to Autumn who had a curious look on her face.

"What's coffee?" she asked with a curious tone in her voice.

Qrow pointed towards his mug and said, "This here is coffee. Would you like to try some?" Before Qrow had even finished Yang was already shaking her head at Autumn and giving her all kinds of warnings in different gestures.

"C'mon Yang it's up to her to decide and besides, I'm sure this time I won't have to clean another carpet."

Yang quieted and waited for her friend's response who at the moment was feeling quite torn between two choices. But despite Yang's clear signs of warnings Autumn couldn't take her eyes of Qrow's own eyes. They held something in them that she couldn't place her finder on despite how hard she tried.

So she decided to accept Qrow's cup carefully and tilted it at her mouth until she felt the dark liquid invade her mouth. She had taken only a small sip off it before she put it on the table eyes wide.

She closed and opened her mouth repeatedly and tried to get the taste off her tongue as fast as she could. After some time which felt like an eternity for her, she managed to set her face back to normal. "It was erm… good?"

Her response sparked some doubts in Yang and Qrow couldn't help but chuckle at her obvious lie.

'_Just like her,' _Qrow said to himself and picked his cup off the table.

* * *

Taiyang was beginning to question the power of Qrow's semblance. It seemed that it still somehow affected him despite all the distance between him and his old friend. It was either that or his luck was just getting worse.

He let out a long sigh and slumped atop his board that was supposed to be a bed. He just checked the news where some news reporter called Lavender informed about the Nevermore problem in Atlas being dealt with.

"That's Just great," he muttered and turned towards his luggage where he's surprise gift was. "I should have just stayed there for a couple of days more."

Although the way he was traveling was faster he really would have enjoyed a seat in an airplane instead of being in a claustrophobic room on a cargo ship.

He could hear and feel the ship's rumbling through the walls, the smell in the air was so bad that he didn't even want to know what was causing it, and atop of all that he had to pay for his trip like he was traveling on a cruise ship.

"But at least I'll save a few days so that's good right?" he directed his question towards his luggage and received no answer. "Yeah… sorry about the medicine. But trust me you really needed it."

With that, he laid back on his "bed" and tried to get some rest. Despite the conditions, he managed to get some much-needed shut-eye. But only an hour or so his rest came to an abrupt end when he heard the sound of the ship's horn go through the walls and invade his room.

No matter what the blonde man tried to do, the horn had shaken him so much that there was no way he could go back to sleep. So he just let out a frustrated sigh and rose from his bed in order to check out what was going on.

After some shaky steps, he managed to reach the door to his room and stepped outside. He was met with by the sun shining directly towards his face as if trying to blind him.

It seemed that the ship was going through a busy canal where plenty of other ships and boats were going on about their day. But what caught his attention was a dock on a nearby shore where his ship was heading towards.

'_Am I in Vale already?' _Tai asked himself and checked his surroundings for answers. What he saw made him smile a little. Sailors went around moving cargo with SDC logos and some other poor passengers like himself were waiting on the deck.

Just to be sure he decided to check the GPS on his scroll and to his surprise, they were already northwest shores of Vale. Maybe he slept a lot longer or he had simply lost the track of time. Either way, this meant that he was going to get off soon.

With that in mind, he got back into his room this time actually happily as he knew that he wouldn't be there for long anymore.

He gathered his luggage and a carrier box just in time to see the ship dock. When he finally set a foot outside on some proper ground he felt tempted to just lay down and relax on it. But he didn't have time for that.

Now he just needed to book a flight with a Bullhead and could possibly get home while there's still some sunlight left!

He couldn't help but to chuckle as he turned towards his carrier box. "It seems that my luck is finally turning. Am I right boy?" he asked and this time received an answer as a small bark and some yawning. "Heh, you're gonna love it!"


End file.
